The present invention relates generally to a method for accumulating odd shaped articles and, more particularly, to a method in which such articles are automatically transferred from an upstream conveyor and stored in an accumulator when a downstream main conveyor blockage or back-up occurs and in which the stored articles are automatically transferred back to the main conveyor on a first-in, first-out basis when the downstream blockage is dissipated.
In the normal operation of an automated conveyor system, such as an automated manufacturing or processing system in which containers or articles of manufacture on the line are transported or conveyed from one operational station (such as a container filling operation) to a second operational station (such as a container labelling operation), a malfunction or other such event may occur to disrupt and back-up the normal flow of articles. If the disruption is a major one the entire system may have to be shut down resulting in an expensive loss of processing time while the disruption is being remedied. In addition, the re-starting of the automated conveyor system may also be time consuming and expensive.
If the disruption is of a minor nature which can be quickly and conveniently remedied, an accumulator apparatus may be employed to receive and temporarily store the articles which would have normally been transported to the malfunctioning operational unit. In this manner the remaining, upstream components of the automated system can remain fully operation, thereby saving substantial time and expense over the less desirable alternative of shutting down and later re-starting the entire system. Once the downstream disruption has been remedied and the automated system is again functioning normally the articles which have been temporarily stored in the accumulator can thereafter continue to be processed by temporarily speeding up the downstream operational components. Alternatively, the articles could be retained in the accumulator until an upstream disruption occurs whereupon the stored articles could be employed to keep the downstream operational components operational while the upstream disruption is being remedied.
Although accumulators of the type described above have been successfully employed in connection with various automated processing and manufacturing systems, such accumulators leave much to be desired when handling odd shaped articles.